Norwich v Arsenal: Arsenal to field only nine players because of injury crisis

By Bulldog Drummond

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Yes it certainly is tough days for Arsenal with everyone including have the managerial staff, most of the ball boys and girls and quite a few of those people who stand in the gangways so you can’t get to and from your seat easily, all injured.

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I know this to be true, because despite the fact of Untold re-publishing the physioroom.com chart of injuries regularly, the media still point out our number of players out, and forget about the rest of the universe. In fact some have renamed our team Arsenal Injury Crisis.

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But imagine for a moment that we had no injuries. What might our team look like?

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Here’s one version…

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Giroud

Alexis, Özil, Ramsey

Cazorla, Coquelin

Monreal, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Bellerin

Cech.

Which suggests we have an injury crisis of one.

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Of course the boss might have changed a few things around, and he might today, but we certainly could put out that team, today with the exception of Coquelin, for whom Flamini will come in. On the beach we might have

But it is always important to have a crisis if humanly possible, even if it involves taking the number of the normal first XI who are injured and multiply it by infinity.

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Of course Mr Wenger could play Ramsey next to Flamini and put Cazorla on the right, but I suspect he’ll go for the minimal amount of changes possible. Indeed the boss said,

“He [Ramsey] gives us a balance because we have Özil who is an offensive player, we have Sánchez, we have Giroud or Walcott and Cazorla so to balance a bit defensively, I use Ramsey on the right,” said Wenger. “That’s where I will certainly continue to use him, unless the game demands to attack.”

On the question of trying the Ramsey and Cazorla partnership Mr Wenger said, “Defensively, certainly, it’s a very adventurous one. He is more an offensive player. He is not a tactical defensive player. He is not afraid to tackle but he likes to go in the box and he has a good timing of runs and he wants the ball and he wants to go forward. If you take that out of him, and you say ‘Look, you have to sit now, and sit there and wait,’ you kill his strengths.

“I have seen that the turn of our results last season was when I went for a bit more stability and put Coquelin in there. Now I am a bit cautious on that front and I do not want to unbalance the team.”

The boss also talked about playing Calum Chambers alongside Santi Caz for the last part of the game on Tuesday, saying, “we are happy because he can do it.” Certainly the club paid a lot for Chambers, and clearly Mr Wenger saw him as having a vital role in the future of the club – which includes an ability to play in a number of positions. I suspect Flamini in the role for now, with Chambers as back up.

As for finding Coquelin II in January transfer window, he said, “It’s nearly impossible to find in January a top, top player,” he said.

Anyway, with Arsenal in reality having only two of the regulars of this season out injured, Norwich are in pretty much the same position with Jarvis and Tettey out.

Here’s the league table at the start of today’s games…

POS

CLUB

P

W

D

L

F

A

GD

Pts

1

Manchester City

14

9

2

3

30

14

16

29

2

Leicester City

14

8

5

1

29

21

8

29

3

Manchester United

14

8

4

2

20

10

10

28

4

Arsenal

13

8

2

3

23

11

12

26

5

Tottenham Hotspur

13

6

6

1

24

11

13

24

6

Crystal Palace

14

7

1

6

19

14

5

22

7

Everton

14

5

6

3

27

19

8

21

8

West Ham United

13

6

3

4

24

20

4

21

9

Southampton

14

5

5

4

20

17

3

20

10

Liverpool

13

5

5

3

17

15

2

20

11

Watford

14

5

4

5

15

16

-1

19

12

Stoke City

14

5

4

5

11

14

-3

19

13

West Bromwich Albion

13

5

2

6

12

17

-5

17

14

Swansea City

13

3

5

5

14

18

-4

14

15

Chelsea

13

4

2

7

17

23

-6

14

16

Norwich City

13

3

3

7

16

24

-8

12

17

Sunderland

14

3

3

8

16

26

-10

12

18

Bournemouth

14

2

4

8

17

30

-13

10

19

Newcastle United

14

2

4

8

14

30

-16

10

20

Aston Villa

14

1

2

11

12

27

-15

5

Norwich are vying with Chelsea for the coveted 15th position.

Non-sequita of the week (from the Independent)

Alex Neil: The Norwich City boss will know how tough a test this will be, but he’ll be hoping to get a result as they are only three points clear of the relegation zone. He’ll be boosted by the fact Arsenal lost to West Brom last week, so will know his team are capable of getting a result.

How does knowing that Arsenal were beaten by WBA mean that Norwich are capable of beating Arsenal?

Best not go there, so let’s move on.

Arsenal have scored at least two goals in seven of their last eight matches against Norwich. Now that is more like it.

The key to it all at the moment of course is the fact that we have key players everywhere on the pitch. Koscielny is brilliant, Cech is solid and calm, Alexis is unlike any player I’ve seen before in a long, long time of watching football, Santi Cazorla, despite last week’s slip is sublime, and Mesut Özil… well what else can I say? Seven assists and two goals in his last eight games.

Actually the Independent excelled itself and went even further than the non-sequita above, when talking about Mesut Özil in the paper yesterday. “Expect to see him add to that when a Norwich side in poor form head to the capital.”

Now this should make an interesting game, what with Arsenal having taken a plane to Norfolk and Norwich in a horse and cart (or whatever the transport is in Norfolk these days) to go to London. Presumably the score at the Ems and at Carrow Road will be 0-1 match abandoned when the home team fails to kick off after the first goal goes in (what with them not being there).

There will be more news of a slightly more sensible nature in the next piece shortly…

More anniversaries

29 November 1896: Joseph Powell died after breaking his arm in a match at Kettering, as a result of tetanus and blood poisoning. After his death Arsenal played a friendly against Aston Villa on 7 December 1896. The proceeds of the match, £137 8s 6d (about £12000 in today’s money) were given to his widow who was pregnant with their second child.

29 November 1902:On this day Arsenal organised an archery competition and raised about £1,200. To put his into perspective, the total income from the 1901-02 season was £5600 largely because the board sold set about 80,000 at 6d each. The police advised the club that they were organising a lottery, which was illegal, and Arsenal’s manager, Harry Bradshaw, was charged, found guilty, and fined £5. Woolwich Arsenal, though kept the proceeds from the “tournament”.

The Untold Books

Woolwich Arsenal the club that changed football, is now available on Kindle at £9.99. For more details and to buy a copyplease click here or go to Amazon Kindle and search forWoolwich Arsenal.

The comparisons are irrelevant.
At any time of the season we will have X number of players injured no matter what the situation at other clubs is and it has no bearing on whether we have a crisis or just a situation, so why does Tony keep banging on about this?
I must be missing something.

On Channel PIGMOB Sports this morning, the chosen wise ones from the media, (led on by a little turd) were discussing the depth of despair at Sports Direct United.

Talking about Toon’s “Head Coach” Steve McLaren, the learned ones said that he is an excellen coach and should stick to coaching. They even offered a way out for the Berk with a Brolly by saying that he would make an excellent number 2 – with a good Manager appointed above him.

Unfortunately, that is not the model that Mike Sports Direct works with – he works with a Head Coach!